I’ve heard people refer to Salem as “The Gateway to Oregon,” and I think we are capable of being so much more than that.
It sounds flattering at first thought, but think about what it really means. A gateway isn’t a destination. It’s something you pass through on your way to somewhere else. A “gateway” is a community that always wants to leave to go somewhere else, never feeling quite at home. That label might have fit us once, but it doesn’t anymore. We are capable of being so much more that “The Gateway to Oregon,” we can be THE destination. We can turn this city into the place where others want to be.
We have lots of serious investment happening in our town. New local owners of our downtown mall and theater. New developments with The Holman Hotel, The Forge and JC Pennys. New restaurants like Clink, Cozy Taberna, or Adobe…